No Chlorine?

[tsol68]

I have a goldline SWG and it worked fine for the first year of the pool's existence. This 2nd year, though, I can't seem to generate chlorine. From the control box, it seems like it is working, however there is no chlorine. I add some granular chlorine and the level comes up to 2, but within a few days, it goes back to 0. My other levels are ok: Ph 7.6, alk 120 (a little high), stabilizer 80, salt 3100. I have heard that phosphate can be a problem. My line water is high in phosphates (I have had aquarium problems). Can anybody shed some light on this? Help would be very much appreciated by myself and the customer service dept. at Goldline

[waterbear]

What is your salt level, pump run time, and cell output set on? have you tried cleaning the cell?

[tsol68]

salt=3100, runtime=from 8 to 12 hours, currently at 8, the output is now at 90%, I clean the cell regularly (my water is very hard)

[waterbear]

I have heard that high phosphates can cause the cell to stop producing. I believe that calcium phosphate coats the plates but cleaning the cell is supposed to get it working again. I have ove 1000ppm phosphates in my water and my aqualogic is maintaining 4 ppm with the output set on 8%. I do know that high pH can inhibit production.
Have you tried losening the union at the cell and collecting water from it and testing it for chlorine to see if it's producing?

[tsol68]

My phosphate is about 4000ppm, I fixed it in my aquarium with more frequent water changes using RO water, but that's not possible with a pool. Do you know of any way to reduce/eliminate phosphates? I was reading about using bleach to raise chlorine levels and was hoping that there was some reletivly inexpensive way to cure my ill.

[waterbear]

There are several phosphate removers on the market that are based on lanthanum chloride that will work. they might temporarily cloud the water. There are also flocs that will removed phosphates if you have a way to vacumn to waste.

[tsol68]

Thanks for you help! I'll get rid of the phosphate and see if I start chlorinating again.

[tsol68]

I don't know if it too late in this thread to ask, but should I try to bleach my chlorine levels up? Just in case phosphates are not the issue. I was reading that phosphate is only a problem in one of a 1000 pools, so maybe something else is wrong?

[waterbear]

I would definitely be adding bleach! You don't want an algae bloom. Phosphates really are only a problem in very few pools but your levels are very high and it might be worth it to try and see if it works. If you have a cartridge filter you can't use the flocs....you will have to treat with the lanthanum chloride based producets. They will clould the water and cause the filter pressure to keep rising...keep an eye on it and clean the filter whenever necessary. This is what removes the phosphates. If you cannot floc it might take multiple treatments to get the phosphate levels down. I personally have never seen a case of phosphates fouling a salt cell but I have heard that it can happen.

[donkipp]

Thanks for you help! I'll get rid of the phosphate and see if I start chlorinating again.

Did that work for you???? Just wondering I'm having the same problem